Board of Education · Regular Meeting · October 26, 2023

Meeting is now in session at this time we wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone who's joining us this evening those who are in person as well those who are joining us virtually the purpose of this meeting is to inform our parents staff and constituents about the work aligned with our mission to embrace educate and Empower every student to innovate to serve and to lead the interpreters for tonight are Martha Romo iges and Marty Ramirez thank you all for taking the time to join us the next item on our agenda is the.

Moment of silence it feels too often that we are having moments of silence and thinking about violence that's happening in our community around our country and around our world but I hope that we can take this moment to hold the folks who are impacted which is all of us in this moment of.

Silence thank you the next item on our agenda is our celebrations we'll pass it over to Sheena. Cooper good evening board members Dr maanga DPS colleagues and families I am pleased to present our celebrations for this evening highlighting the outstanding accomplishments of our DPS students and the inspiring work of our Educators and staff tonight we will acknowledge our October student of the month followed by our teacher and employee of the month we will introduce DPSS new principal of the year and showcase a national recognition received by one of our extraordinary teachers we will conclude our celebrations with the presentation of DPS spark pins tonight also at this time I'd like to welcome principal Dan Guilford of Northern High School to introduce our October student of the month Mr.

Guilford good evening everyone Madam chair members of the school board Dr mainga members of our cabinet and all dur Public Schools it is an honor for me as principal of Norland High School to be before you this evening to recognize our student of the month Stephen Justice Fischer Jr justice is a one-of-a-kind leader he treats individuals with respect and encourages them to achieve at their highest level he's always seeking opportunities to help members of his team and Community he excels at helping others to achieve their fullest potential he serves as a student adviser for beer peer group connection PGC PGC allows Justice to connect with a group of underclassman students to help them provide with help provide them with strategies to have a successful School career he is always encouraging others and remains humble when he achieves his own successes he is currently a member of both the football and the track team where he serves as Captain he has applied and been accepted to various colleges and universities he.

Has been offered a full scholarship for his academic and athletic abilities to Alabama A&M but remains hopeful for an offer from UNCC state or Liberty when I spoke with various teacher leaders about and staff about justice as our representative before this board for this school Year everyone broke into a wide smile and enthusiastically endorse his recommendation he's a very dedicated captain of our football team when asked about attending tonight he was open to not coming and instead going to support JV tonight against Riverside but his mom overruled that escorted tonight by his parents Stephen and danda Fischer I present Steph Justice Fischer Jr of Northern High School as J public school student of the mon for October.

2023 congratulations Stephen we are so so proud to present you with a few items to acknowledge your achievement tonight Mr Guilford did share that little tidbit of news with me yesterday that you might not be here but we're so glad to be able to recognize you in front of these individuals and all of our DPS family watching around the community tonight so first and foremost we have your student of the month. Certificate we have a DPS spark pin to make sure that everyone around Durham knows that you exemplify excellence and DPS core beliefs our friends at triagle e cycling want to make sure that you are powered and prepared for your future wherever it may lead you so they want to offer you a laptop this.

Evening and now we have a special presentation from bana Kennedy she's the chief of programs for the Durham public schools. Foundation thank you Sheena thank you to the board for allowing us to be here with you this evening the Durham Public Schools Foundation is dedicated to supporting and championing our DPS students families and staff we are proud ongoing supporters and sponsors of the DPS teacher of the year program DPS Building Services Employee Appreciation celebration DPS convocation and this school year we started being sponsors of one of the sponsors of DPS student of the month the foundation believes that every child does deserves well-funded community- centered Public Schools rich in materials human resources and programming that supports the development of the whole child we fight for those school days in and day out partnership with DPS and we raise funds to do that work and to distribute those efforts the foundation sees our students of the month as examples of our Durham community and what happens when a combination of resources reach students.

Families and School staff we want to support your continued growth Justice and hope that you will use this $500 gift card to further your academic Endeavors whether they are your passions in the Arts Sports and definitely in college we're very proud of you and we are very proud supporters of Duren Public Schools congratulations to you absolutely really nice you thank you for your. Time Stephen we want to invite you and your family to take a couple of pictures and also be congratulated by our.

Board let take.

Don't want to. M.

Congratulations again Sten please join me in welcoming Michelle Hayes to the podium to present our teacher of the month employee of the month and our principal of the Year.

Recognitions good evening chairman umed members of the board Dr mainga and cabinet members as you all know we have started our teacher and employee of the month this year and this year each month is represented based off of a theme for our October teacher and employee of the month the theme is selflessness this is the individual who has a tendency to to regard the well-being of others as more important than one's own well-being this individual is always patient kind humble and often seeks assist and often seeks to assist to help others our teacher of the month is sponsored by North Carolina Central University's tennis program the TOs side chapter of Omega Sci-Fi fraternity Incorporated DCL Consulting LLC and the veil Care Foundation and our employee of the month is sponsored by the office of Human Resources we are going to recognize our teacher first and our employee our October teacher of the month is Miss Claire Lerner fifth grade teacher at Glenn Elementary School it is difficult to imagine a teacher more.

Committed to her students and team than Miss Lerner for the past two years her students have exceeded growth in math and science at the end of last year almost 80% of her students passed one or more eogs incredibly several of these students had evos projections placing their probability of proficiency on the EOG at 10% or less all of this would be all of this would be amazing in a in any scenario but many of these incredible accomplishments came after Co had forced many of these students entire third grade year to be virtual and was her second year teaching fifth grade along with another colleague Miss legar planned every day after school to truly understand fifth grade standards power standards the EOG and a new curriculum when a new when a colleague was on maternity leave she stepped up and planned reading math and science content for the entire grade without hesitation or complaint Miss Lear uses our talking points communication app to share pictures and progress with families on a.

Regular basis just this week when she received a new student Miss Lear sent this note to the family we had a wonderful first day of class it was so much fun getting to know your student today she is so smart and sweet she started participating right away and worked so well with her group I wanted to share this picture of her great teamwork for a family who has just transitioned to a new setting during a student's last year in elementary school it is difficult to imagine a more positive note to receive we know that the student and her family will have an amazing fifth grade year because of the academic supportive and caring EnV environment she has created Miss laric amplifies the best in teaching and the spark she likes for her students families and colleagues is unparalleled we are grateful every day that she is one that she is on the gland tin congratulations to miss Claire Lerner for being named during public school's October teacher of the.

Month good evening everyone DCL Consulting is proud to be a sponsor of the Durham public School's teacher of the month program we are delighted to present Miss leera with a check for her extraordinary dedication to Excellence again congratulations to you and would also like to recognize principal hunt because without not only the leadership and the oversight but the insight and the ability to just capture to the best of your ability all of the wonderful duties that the teachers are performing we wouldn't know this without your Vision without your Insight so thank you also for coming this evening Miss.

Garrett.

Our October employee of the month is Miss Naja cotton EC cope care facilitator from Carrington Middle School NAA cotton has gone above and beyond to ensure students are transitioning well from the cat program she keeps constant checks on the students and she is always encouraging encouraging them to do well she has been consistent with implementing the code program store and ticket rewards for students Miss cotton is working with the students on social and emotional skills as well as working with them oneon-one to meet their goals she is a positive role model for the students and she has shown much and she has shown how much she cares about the students in program with her dedication and motivational efforts she is always willing to help when students have a crisis have questions and fill in whenever and wherever is needed not only does her hard work and dedication show in the co- program but also after school she is a dedicated cheer coach she works hard with her cheer team after school from.

3:30 until 5:30: every afternoon she is a positive role model for them and always has encouraging words for the team congratulations to miss Naja cotton for being named during Public Schools October employee of the.

Month.

All right ladies and gentlemen our 2023 2024 DPS principal of the year I present to you our 2023 2024 DPS principal of the here miss masenda Middleton. Brown principal Middleton Brown started her career as a fourth grade teacher and has served R in Harris as a teacher and an administrator for 22 years she believes that elementary school is the foundation of education and her work has been driven by her commitment to students and staff under her leaders ship R in haris was designated as a b school for the first time.

Ever additionally R in Harris was named 2023 Blue Ribbon Lighthouse school and listed among the top 20% of schools in the state of North Carolina for academic growth principal Middleton Brown will now compete for the Wells Fargo Regional principal of the Year title so let's give another round of applause for our 2020 3 2024 DPS principal of the year and she gets a check thank you did you want do you want to say something of course I want to say thank you to my Duram Public Schools Community my Arnita Harris School family it's more than just the community it's family and of course my colleague thank you so much I wouldn't be here without them and I do want to thank the school board you know for your tireless work and dedication to during Public Schools thank you for all you do I know you spend many late Thursday nights here I watch you so I appreciate all that you do to you know to instill in us the.

Capacity to you know to teach our students to instruct our students and to nurture our students so thank you and thank you Dr MinGa for always being shining example for during Public.

Schools. In Durham public schools we are so very fortunate to have Educators who are the best of the best in our region State and Nation tonight we would like to acknowledge Seth Stallings Mr Stallings is an engineering teacher at Riverside High School and DPS is 2023 CTE teacher of the year he has been selected as one of the top 10 National out standing Project Lead theway engineering teachers for 2022 23 24 Pro yes Project Lead the Way recognizes the unparalleled commitment of these Educators to help every student in every grade be stem successful and to unlock the potential of their students through pltw programs Mr Stallings has performed and transformed learning experiences for students creating a lasting impact in the classroom we are extremely proud of you Mr Stallings.

Congratulations thank y'all for everything you do I said this last time I was here dur Public Schools is the finest school system in North Carolina thank Rick sheld doall Tim bigal and Adam Davidson for C and lightning in a bottle when they started the program and Dr Julie pack for keeping it going every time I think we may take a dip because we lose a key person y'all find somebody equal or better to bring in so keep doing that and and we'll keep rolling along as best we.

Can.

The DPS spark pen is presented to students staff and Community Partners who embody DPSS core beliefs our first Spark pin recipient is Joseph parish Mr parish is one of our valued Educators he has worked for DPS for more than 30. Years and he is also one of the original staff members of Middle College High School at Durham Tech Mr parish's Commitment to middle college is unwavering last year when the school's enrollment numbers were a little low he went to libraries across Durham Orange County and Chapel Hill to put up Flyers about Middle College he even made a flyer and he placed it in the window of his car to advertise for the school I like that idea we might be talking after this he has been instrumental in helping to grow the school's enrollment I'm also told that he rarely misses a day of work since principal Crystal Taylor Simon has been there and I believe that's for maybe five years now he has maybe only missed five days and that's including a teacher.

Workday he's usually the first person to the to arrive and always the last person to leave he loves his job he loves his students and it shows Mr Parish we hope you wear this pen proudly and we are proud of you and your commitment to DPS and its students thank.

You our next spark pin recipient is Miss Ronda white Miss White is the first face our students see each morning on their way to school as she is one of our dedicated bus drivers she transports our most precious cargo to and from schools daily and she does it safely recently she was driving her route and noticed a disturbance and she was poised under pressure and she took the necessary precautions to ensure that all students were safe she does her job with dedication and enthusiasm and her commitment shows day in and day out we commend Miss White for her quick thinking and for her professionalism at that she brings to her role every single day she exemplifies leadership and models Excellence behind the wheel Miss White you are we are honored to present you with this pen and we hope that you wear it proudly thank you for all that you do.

Our final spark pin recipient will be acknowledged at our November meeting due to an unforeseen conflict this concludes our celebrations this evening thank you thank you Miss Cooper I love starting our meetings with the celebrations and really getting to see and highlight some of the great things happening in Durham Public Schools the next item on our agenda is the superintendent's update pass it over to Dr mainga all right thank you Madame chair good evening Madame chair members of the board and Durham Community I'm happy to share an update of the work being conducted to ensure Student Success in the Duran Public School first I would like to introduce to our community our new Deputy superintendent Dr Nicholas King a new Deputy superintendant has been on board for a couple weeks now and has already had a wonderful start start we're excited for his return to DPS and his work for DPS as we're moving forward welcome Dr King I am proud to announce that our percentage of employee vacancies has.

Decreased from 9% last year to 3% with only 88 open positions that's really great we continue to interview exceptional n instructors K to six teachers and bus drivers dur Public Schools offer an inclusive involvement excellent benefit and professional development support please if you know any candidates that is interested please send them our way our state Governor Roy kooper visited and had breakfast with our student and staff at Glenn Elementary school on Tuesday to announce the expansion of innovative breakfast programs will will excited that he had to come to make that announcement here at DPS and princi for Matthew hunt shares that in class breakfast has been extremely beneficial adding 30 minutes per day 2.5 hours per week 100 hours per year approximately three additional weeks of instructional time for our students that's amazing our Career and Technical education department hosted AEL 8 career exploration day over 2300 student students eth graders attended a lot of us were there including some of our board members it was really an excitement time to see 100 businesses.

Represented crors to them and we are so grateful that they are willing to support our students and supporting DPS as well it was really a great opportunity for our student to see what jobs in the future is going to look like and that's also inspired them to be able to know what classes they would like to take in the future thank you to our DPS Foundation Merk and GSK for the financial support for that particular event I'm also pleased to share that 22 student at Riverside High School are taking college courses thank you to Durham Tech and especially thank you to president JB bton I've been really fighting for this for years to be able to see instructors from Durham Tech coming to our campuses offering those classes with our goal of 25% of our graduate graduating with some kind of credentials and Associate degrees in the next five viers we are really excited that we started this Riverside High School and we'll be able to expand it to other Comprehensive High.

Schools hopefully board and our community you've been able to see and read the new weekly spark our newsletter created to keep you informed about what's happening in Duran Public Schools the newsletter marks an exciting step forward in our ongoing e effort to strengthen our Communications force a collaboration and celebrate the achievement of an incredible School community and the Plus for that particular newsletter I was really pleased to see how we start showcasing our athletes that was a piece that was missing and with that we need to be celebrating all our athletes as they are enjoying schools and being able also to get some scholarship as they're moving forward past DPS lce has been mail to all our current elementary families in grade K to 12 informing them of their school assignment for the upcoming school year as a part of our 24 25 Student Assignment plan last evening we concluded a series of information meetings for families to learn information about the plan and allow them to meet the principal of the.

New school we will host a session exclusively for latinx families in November I would like to invite all theps families to attend our Showcase of schools on Saturday November 18th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that's going to take place at the Durham Convention Center this is a fantastic opportunity to learn about our outstanding schools last year there were over thousand in attenders we are looking forward to another wonderful event as we're going to showcase our schools Madame chair board members do conclude my remarks thank you Dr mainga the next item on our agenda is the agenda review and approval board members approval of the agenda second it's been moved by Miss vades seconded by miss berer any other discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed please use the same sign it passes unanimously the next item on our agenda is the Board of Education monthly meeting minutes from September 28th 2023 an edit the minute the date the date at the top is correct but the date in the text.

Is incorrect so make that.

Note move approval of the minutes with the Amendment as suggested the correction second it's been moved by Miss Byer seconded by Miss Carter Aon any other discussion all those in favor say I I any post please use the same sign it passes unanimously the next item on our agenda is our general public comment before we get started I want to do a quick review of the rules please first please state your name and if you're speaking for an organization please state your name and the name of the organization second our speakers are asked to present their comments within three minutes when the yellow light comes on you have one minute left to start whining up your remarks when the red light comes on it will beep and that indicates that your time is up complaints about name staff students or parents should not be voiced in Open session however we are very interested in hearing your concerns with regard to public education safety of students or to the operation of the school system.

Finally the board members will listen carefully and will consider your comments but we do not engage in a discussion with our speakers the first person on our list is Christian Christian I apologize in advance I'm gon butcher your last name Kena par Kar par see Christian Kar I'm a teacher at Southern School of energy sustainability I teach a skill trades pathway thank you for having me I am proposing that we build a sidewalk along Clayton Road from cheek road all the way to Chandler where there is a bus stop this would be the first first thing that we should do in a long run of maybe getting a sidewalk on Freeman if you've ever driven that road it's very curvy people speed and it's dangerous and we know our students our students are care about their shoes right and a lot of our students will not walk on the grass and so they I've seen students walking in the road high traffic patterns from Google map says 8 to 10 4 to6 right it.

Is a link between two major roads that it we need to address this was presented seven years ago with Mr leathers and the PTA at Southern and you know I come here today to rejuvenate talk about it again I I'm every day right 8 in the morning along that curved Road when I've come to school the Sun is right in your eyes right and if there is drizzle or fog or your windshields fogged you will not see anybody on the side of that road and it's literally six inches and then it drops off it's very dangerous I hope that we be proactive board members in this instead of coming to a definite disaster and being reactive right we talk about safety for our students this is number one right and we've had two large neighborhoods built right there in the past two years and it's going to continue to build there's a lot of woods out there and companies are can continue continue to build housing so allowing.

Our students to walk or ride their bikes or however children should be able to get to school safely is important and right now it is not safe I also propose that in in in light of what happened today news reel I propose having guard stations at the entry two entries and exits at Southern we have way too much traffic coming on to campus and before it becomes an issue in which everybody it would be affected I think that we should really start bringing security into light paid SRO at traffic times right in the morning School athletic events that type of thing really let their presence be known so the community and those that wish to do us harm know that there will be issues right that is it thank you thank.

You the next public comment speaker and again I apologize if I mispronounce your names please correct me when you get to the podium I think it's Beth no Britney.

Mcra hello and thank you thank you for allowing me the moment to speak my name is Britney mcra I am a treasurer of Durham School of the Arts PTSA so I am coming just by myself as a parent because I'm a little bit concerned we have new plans to build a new school for DSA and parents in the community and taxpayers were to have a meeting to go over this and we were not given that opportunity the meeting was cancelled there has been no reschedule of that meeting so I'm a little bit concerned just from my students perspective my school as to when the community and the taxpayers are going to be able to kind of ask those questions see those plans because again the board has been saying a lot of transparency like we want to give transparency we've not seen anything so my question and challenge to the board is when are are when are we going to have that meeting if one is going to be had or when is the.

Transparency going to be really transparent thank you thank you all right our next speaker is Lisha.

Lucas thank you for allowing me time as well similar to Britney I am also a TSA member but also have a child that's at Durham School of the Yards so and speaking with like some of the other parents and and different people around I think everyone kind of has like an idea what's happening but no one has concrete plans so my concern is that you know are there concrete plans and if they are you know what we like we would like to see them of course but also kind of learn the logistics around what's going to happen because again with so many rumors going around everyone kind of gets a little bit startled right and then everyone comes becomes very concerned about what's going to happen and how is this going to lay out in addition to how is it going to be better than the DSA that we already are are in currently so those those are my main my main objectives that I'd like to know.

Is just how are things going to happen what's going to happen logistically then how will the classes and the teachers and everyone kind of surface around throughout the school thank you thank you all right that concludes our public comment the next item on our agenda is our consent items the board has reviewed these items in advance of our meeting on board what's your pleasure move approval of the consent agenda a second it's been moved by Miss Roger seconded by Miss Lewis is there any other discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed please use the same sign and it passes unanimously the next item and our two items in our agenda are gonna come from our chief of schools Dr Tanya Giovani I'll pass oh excuse me sorry I'm sorry Chief of Staff chief of schools I mixed that up I apologize my bad I'm sorry Dr Stacy Stewart I'm sorry Dr.

Stewart Dr yeah she's online yeah good evening I apologize for not being able to be in person but my condition requires me to stay away I am joined this evening by Ashley Stevens the director of innovation and she will present the two-year calendar adoption request for the next two years Ash Ashley thank you Dr Stewart good evening Dr manga board members and those joining us tonight tonight I bring to you our recommendation for the next two years 2024 2025 and 2025 2026 instructional Calendars our recommendations will include traditional and year round calendar types we will return with specialty calendar recommendations once our partner college and university released their academic calendars next slide please all proposed calendars are in compliance with state laws this includes for traditional calendar schools the proper start and end date as currently permitted by the state the required number of days are hours DPS currently tracks hours our calendars meet the hourly requirement with additional bank time to ensure we are prepared for inclement weather.

Days minimum of nine teacher work days which R includes more inclusion of the required holidays as outlined by the North Carolina office of State Human Resources 10 annual leave days and ensures that staff work does not work any more or less than the required 200 15 days including all of the days after mentioned above next slide please the calendar process begins with a representative from each School joining to create the draft calendars and provide feedback as this information is gathered over multiple meetings there is then feedback received from various District departments the drafts are then opened up to the community to provide additional feedback once all feedback has been consider considered final draft copi are sent to the schools principes work to ensure all staff have an opportunity to review the calendar drafts and vote they then submit the majority vote to May it is also noted that each school only votes for its calendar type this process took place in late fall early winter for the past two calendar processes we have.

Worked to start this process earlier to ensure we were able to provide that information to our community as we do also have elementary schools changing calendar types next school year next slide please this year Community feedback was received through the engaged platform feedback was received in English and Spanish and in addition to reviewing the comments made on social media post directing families to engage next slide please while the committee Works to ensure that there are draft Calenders created that have an academic Focus so students and teachers are in school for uninterrupted periods of instructional time there are additional areas of consideration there is a strong acknow acknowledgement of ensuring that non-academic needs of students staff and the needs of our families be weighed in also this includes aligning at least one week of traditional and year round spring break for families operating on multiple calendars that year round calendars have approximately three weeks for intercession and that there is a teacher work day at the end of each quarter next slide please our.

Recommendation recommendations based on the school voted majority are next slide please for the traditional calendar 2024 2025 school year the majority vote was for option A for 2025 2026 school year the majority vote was also option A next slide please for the year round calendar 2024 2025 school year the majority vote was option b and for 2025 2026 school year the majority calendar vote was option A next slide please to ensure families operating on multiple calendars are able to plan and prepare during the Spring Break Time Each calendar comes with one week of alignment which is listed here next slide please I now open the for any questions thank you Miss Stevens I appreciate that presentation board members are there any questions go with you miss vadis to start more more like a request you know I I appreciated Dr Stewart and yourself just sharing this with us in our subcommittee meeting and there was something that was so I think a highlight for me that just talked about how this process has you.

Know improved over time and I just wanted that to to be shared if if that's okay in terms of like how this process played out before where it was like multiple meetings and the pieces had to come together and somebody had to consolidate all the feedback and how you have made that process and I just want to you know shout out like efficiency in that thank you so yes previously these meetings did take place in purpose in person and it was done through a paper format so that meant that all of the various calendar options and feedback that the calendar people in the calendar committee would give would then have to come back and we would have to figure out how that all matched up together we now utilize an electronic process so when we sit down in the calendar meeting we actually have an electronic version of the calendars that as we move dates to see what the implications would be it tallies it for us and we're able to see.

That implication in real time so it's no longer lots of feedback try to figure it all out in one we're all looking at the same piece together Miss berer but I just wanted to extend gratitude to you because this is incredibly complex work it's something that the North Carolina School boards Association has been lobbying to return calendar control to local districts for so long because it's it's a impossible puzzle that you all try to do and especially keeping in mind the needs of students first there are some changes in this year's calendar in regards to professional learning days moving to Fridays if I'm reading that correctly and I'd like you to have a chance to talk about that decision point and whether you feel like we will have attendance that is strong from our teachers if we make this move to Friday afternoon when they've traditionally been on Wednesdays yes so actually in this school calendar year our early release days are on Friday and that was something that was considered in the.

Last calendar process there was a lot of discussion about what that would look like understanding that early release days or teacher work days are not synonymous with break and that that is time for professional development and learning and one thing that I can appreciate from our families and our teachers that break in the middle of the week of instruction did not give itself to the students or the teachers when they had to return on a Thursday after an off week so this was able to better align with our families that asked for some consistency and when those days fall and for our teachers to be given that professional attitude to not then have to deal with what comes after it instructionally on Thursday no that's great and I appreciate the reminder I frankly don't babysit as much on early release days which is great at my house I I just hope that y'all will continue to track both you know adult attendance at plc's and then that students don't just necessarily take.

Three-day weekends because it's tucked up against a weekend and then if you could speak to the inclusivity of of all Faith traditions in some holidays that we are being inclusive of Muslim holidays Jewish holidays do you know which of those are kind of we were able to accommodate in these calendar versions yeah so that is one part that is definitely a little bit more challenging we look at lots of different Faith bases there's one two three four five six seven eight nine faith-based religions that we actually just kind of look at those days over the calendar and it always does become a difficult process as we do not want to Value one over the other so specifically in these calendars we are able in the first calendar there is time for people of the Jewish Community to be honored to honor yam kapor in the first Year's calendar and E those are not in the same in the second calendar when you're saying the first and the second calendar you Draft A and.

B or I apologize for the 2024 2025 calendar so we can do it for the next year but the following year you weren't able to accommodate that yes part of it is because of where they fall one of the biggest difficulties in our puzzle is the holidays that are required by the state wherever they happen to fall it ends itself differently to how many days we have to move around so typically if the state mandated holiday for Good Friday is a little bit earlier and it connects to our spring break time that gives us more room and flexibility with where we put our teacher work days in the event that it falls later in the year then typically we try to honor that time and connect that with the end of our quarter which is when a teacher workday also goes so we have less flexibility for where our teacher work days will fall throughout the rest of the year yall work the puzzle every which way I'm sure trying.

To so another big consideration was we looked at balancing our semesters currently because our semester ends after the holiday which happens because of when we have to start school this year we were able to balance our semester also and that's another way that we're able to kind of have some more flexibility of if we move those teacher work days that typically fall at the end of our semester so this these calendars went with balancing those versus moving that work. Day any other questions Miss by no I just I I really think it's something that we've made tremendous progress on and I'd hate to see us go backwards so if in the interim you know between now and the the 25 26 year if y'all are able to whichever one the second one is if y'all are able to to accommodate that I think it is so so important and if even if not the noting those on the calendar so that our teachers and families can be aware I don't know it just.

Doesn't the work towards inclusivity has has been long overdue so thank you for that absolutely Miss Chávez thank you for this and I want to say I really appreciate you adjusting the process to move it up earlier and the way you collected feedback from the schools I think and from the from people from the families from those who are going to be most invested in this calendar so thank you so much for all of that the thing that stood out to me and looking at it that might be a a bit of a change is that in the 25 26 school year the the whole week of Thanksgiving students are out and so I'll just be interested to see and just if you had any comment on this I'd be interested to hear if that will be helpful be because you know we'll we have I I let me back up I imagine there are a lot of students or we have a higher number of students who don't come to school that.

Monday and Tuesday before the Thanksgiving holiday I wonder if we'll be able to kind of then avoid that drop in attendance for those days I also know that last year we had we had some you know there are staff who take off as well and so that can be a concern so I'm just wondering if after we Implement particularly the 25 26 Calendar if we'll maybe try to keep that change of having that week off for students and mostly off for for staff so absolutely and that's definitely data that we can pull and track over these next two years even the years prior to this and I will say that we tried to make that consideration happen in the first year but again just given where the first day we start and where things had to fall that was not something that became a high priority given some of the other shifts we made I understand you're balancing a lot not a criticism but just I'll be interested to.

See how it plays out thank you so much G add one more thing to the jigsaw puzzle we received some emails from families about Election Day this year and I know that there's some that days that we already know that are election days but we may not have 25 on the calendar yet 2025 but just want to know were you all able to consider that within the calendars yes so the November voting day is considered in all was considered in all the options so of course it came out in our recommendations and for 2026 our next even year including the may day as well so that was another additional day that we added to support that day in May for voting and I think if there any we realize other come up that we haven't included whether offe primaries if we can bring that back I think it would just be really helpful for those to be work days and so schools can be falling places and there's not any concerns around lots of folks.

Coming in and out to vote while students are present so I appreciate that even in this discussion it illuminates all the different pieces that you have to work around within the constraints of the state the days that the state give you so I just want to say thank you for considering all those different things absolutely is there any other discussion from board members happy to take a motion if we feel moved I move approval of the calendars it's been moved and properly second that we approve the instructional calendars for 2024 25 2526 is there any other discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed please use the same sign and it passes unanimously thank you the next item on our agenda from Dr Stewart is the low performing School imp low performing School Improvement plans okay good evening chair Amstead members of the board and Dr mbinga this evening we will present our preliminary School Improvement plan along with how our school leaders at 15 schools designated.

As low performing by the state measures have engaged in the work of planning toward an improved School Improvement plan in compliance with State guidance I have asked three colleagues to join me for this presentation because they can articulate their experiences in this process I'm G to ask the following persons to join at the podium we have Lori MCN the director of professional learning Emery w principal of bethesa and Otis Maan principal of ye Smith Elementary School next slide please last year we presented the 2022 2023 and 2324 School Improvement plans for the two-year cycle during that time we shared the collaborative comprehensive process whereby School Improvement teams own the planning process they analyze multiple data types to include perception demographics School processes as well as learner outcomes to establish school goals and strategies toward Improvement those plans were approved this year all schools followed the same process with a few improvements based on the launch of during Public Schools building our future plan because we seek to work smarter and not harder.

This year all schools were required to develop smart goals in alignment with our Dish Dish I'm sorry in alignment with our strategic plan next slide please per ncdpi guidance we are to share the preliminary School Improvement plan and our plan for notifying parents of schools labeled performing next slide please the general statue 115 C- 10537 and A1 identifies low performing schools and the expectation that schools are identified annually based upon the school's performance grade schools with a performance grade of D or C and a school score of met expected growth are not meant expected growth or labeled low performing as a result of this label a plan for improving these schools is required next slide please additionally districts are required to provide written notification to parents/guardians with within 30 days of the school's low performance label inclusive of performance grade and growth score received information from the preliminary plan meeting date for the preliminary plan and a description of any additional steps to improve student performance next slide please October the 5th began the State.

Board of Education's designated timeline for implementing required actions of school leaders and school Improvement planning in alignment with low performance sanctions within the first 30 days districts are required to share a preliminary School Improvement plan to the local school board inclusive of improvement strategies and the role of District leaders in the process now I would like to pass the mic to Lori MCN director of professional learning who will walk us through the visual of DPS continuous Improvement plan Miss mcnolty thank you we are poor substitutes for Dr Stewart but we appreciate you're including us a little bit next slide please thank you so School Improvement really is just continuous Improvement and I think most of you know that's an area near and dear to my heart we always start with data so we literally pull multiple dozens of data points we look at program evaluations and comprehensive reviews that's both at the school level and at the district level then we go ahead and we make our plans and we're going to talk about each.

Of these in more depth as we go through the presentation so the this is just an overview but schools make their plans central office plans layers of support for those schools then we move into implementation and you see the word indar there that is Department of Public instructions platform for housing School Improvement plans schools Implement central office comes in and does support and feedback that is part of the monitoring but we also have a new director of school Improvement Pam Johnson who has been a wonderful addition to the team in supporting central office and schools and then we go to that final step of looking at additional resources revising plans and seeing what supports are needed please the next step in the process focus on our non-negotiables that have been laid out by the people who have focused on the Strategic plan I want to say Dr Mingo but I but we hear these non-negotiables we live and breathe the non-negotiables because we understand that the non-negotiables are requ to.

Give students exactly what they need these non-negotiables are connected to our school Improvement plan our school Improvement teams are aware of the requirements we connected with our families as well through family engagement events but we also want to begin by setting realistic goals focusing on the data that is coming from the cni team and then focusing on those targeted students and the student and all students as a whole because we want to make sure that we then move into providing the intervention plans for those who are falling behind it is our goal as a labeled low performing school that we have a professional development plan that adheres and differentiates to the needs of the vast Educators that we're getting these days we have some who have been in the field for several years we have those who are in the middle and we have those that are BTS so with that and that's just the state of education at this point and with that we want to provide a differentiated professional.

Development plethora of learning for our Stu our Educators finally on this slide I would say the family engagement piece has always been a requirement or non-negotiable with the Strategic plan and allowing parents to understand what it takes for the whole child to learn a connection between school family we have a large El population at Bethesda Elementary so we want to make the connection we want to build programs that the whole child the families can participate in so that we build a well-rounded Community together okay next slide please so every school is provided a school Improvement template to support their planning we're not going to spend a lot of time on each of these but we'll give you a glimpse to see how they align to the Strategic plan Priority One obviously focuses on both growth and proficiency specifically targeting the needs of the school and if you'll notice they're not schools don't have to fill out every piece of the template they only use the ones that apply to their grade band okay next slide.

Please priority two focuses really on the whole child on goals for safety for social emotional learning and around Equity next slide please priority three is about finding and keeping excellent staff next slide please priority four is really looking at current state of community engagement and moving more towards that desired state to bring fa families in to become an inherent part of the school next slide please and priority five targets the fiscal state of the school which is sometimes an an Ever shifting Target depending on our Title One funding and other factors each year next slide.

Please good evening so I want to talk about some of our school level activities and just to say that this process really started in June with our Leadership Retreat we were provided with some excellent professional development and training and we were charged as leaders and as a leader that has been promoted from within this process has been super clear it's been super helpful and I have received personally a tremendous amount of support and so starting from July until August we have been digging into our comprehensive needs assessment really creating intentional practices for our students and our staff and from there aligning and realigning our school Improvement teams ensuring that we are developing those intervention plans and ensuring that schools are only as strong as the head and so moving from the head down we then meet with our district teams and we've been preparing those intervention plans but also those incentive plans as we mentioned earlier the state of our education where teachers are is is important that as we are celebrating.

Students that we're also remembering our teachers as well and So within the month of September we had the opportunity to present those plans to the the school Improvement team District level teams and then they were able to also give us support and feedback as we are awaiting those fall checkins and then they'll continuously give us some more Improvement and feedback on. That one thing that happens also in those meetings there are opportunities to request additional funding sources to support the overall learning of the program now earlier I mentioned that we're living it we're breathing it and it has happened to me okay so let me be clear when I say this on October 19th we were infiltrated by about nine central office staff members and I say in infiltrated because you know we're on a mission right we're on a mission to improve student achievement so we were infiltrated there are about 47 classrooms that were observed especially those and this was K all the way K through five you know they did.

Not allow the principal or the assistant principal to walk with them I'm sure if we had asked we could have but we want the authentic truth once that was done there were about I had to meet with my supervisor and answer about 50 questions which were very insightful but it was helpful I remember meeting with Dr Stewart after that meeting and it was good to hear that all of this was tying together so and I know that I have the support of the central office team what keeps me coming every day is because I know that DPS has a clear defined plan that works if you work it I don't know how to follow that part but next slide please so I'm just going to talk through the mirror image from central office side this is a huge part of our central office work I mean that that's what we're here for to support the schools so in July and August We Gather large teams across all departments in central office.

Again you know I talked about the multiple data points we do that analysis we sit down and we talk about the data we draw our own conclusions we look at the multiple platforms and then we create a tiered layers of support for each area so how will ES support students how will professional learning support teachers we go through each department and differentiate support plans we move into September and support them in creating their plans and then the principls come and deliver their school Improvement plans to subsets of that team we then give them feedback help them think through their goals think through the supports available to achieve their goals so then when we get to that blue column which really is where we are now that's when we start the implementation so they have had weeks and weeks of implementing their plan we come in and try to provide an objective set of eyes and say Here's what you want to do here are your goals and here's.

What we see about your PR ress towards those goals to support that we during principal meetings talk about the seven domains of school Improvement and we help principles really understand and have a vision of Excellence around those and Norm practice doing video calibration so that we all have a common understanding of language and expectations afterwards we do write up a report the reports are delivered by by principal supervisors and by Dr Stewart and then our teams come in with support requested so Mr woff and I and his ilt team meet at least monthly to talk about the professional development needed for his wide range from many beginning teachers to many veteran teachers and then we continue that Mo monitoring going back to industar and document document document next slide please believe we're back to Dr.

Stewart so as you can infer there has been a lot of movement and engagement among school and District leaders in support of our schools labeled low performing the superintendent has established the school leadership non-negotiables which he considers to be the recipe for Success all schools to include the 15 designated as low performing schools are to implement these strategies with Fidelity in addition to any other strategies unique to their schools needs District leaders are actively involved in this process data generated from school visits is used to not only provide feedback to school leaders but used toward collaborative efforts between schools and District department leaders as noted by Lori mcnolty our approach is comprehensive the goal is for school leaders to feel supported during this process and thank you for acknowledging that support Mr W off next slide please again within the first 30 days we are to provide parent notification next slide please here is a summary of DPSS actions towards State compliance from September through October of this Academic Year.

The school Improvement teams engaged in data analysis School Improvement plan development presented their Improvement plans to the district Improvement team and received assistance and guidance toward updating their school Improvement efforts in industar which is the platform required by the State Board of Education for school and District high quality work for improving schools it is worth noting industar does not capture the essence of the full scope of the school improvement process yet it reports the work of the school Improvement team to include school goals sit meetings dates agenda strategies and progress towards meeting those strategies by tomorrow October the 27th all schools will post their parent notification on their school's website which informs parents of this process and provides the time rank time frame for providing written feedback toward their plan there will be a thorough review of the information placed in indar before the plan is presented to the board on no November 16th for approval afterwards plans will be submitted to the State Board of Education through ncar which is endar next slide.

Please here you will find the name of the 15 schools designated as low performing along with guest login and passwords for accessing their plans in indar next slide please this slide contains a visual of how to access a school's plan in industar one should go to the school's web page click on about us scroll down and click on the link to school Improvement plan it should contain now notice it should contain the link to endar along with the school's guest login and password next slide please we will take questions and engage in discussion at this time thank you Dr Stewart and to the team that's joined us today I like how you rephrase this Mr woff we don't we don't have low performing schools we got schools that are labeled by the state as low performing we know we have excellent Educators and wonderful students in each one of these buildings who are working hard and high performing so thank you all for that board members are there any questions comments I'm sure there.

Are missis I want to thank you so much for coming here tonight and also you know for the work that you put in we actually got to see quite a bit of your slides yeah we were able to to to you know go in there and it's quite extensive and you aligned it to also our strategic plan Priority One two I mean so much that was laid out and also some of the resources that were on there so it the plan is there and definitely you know you know I did acknowledge the some of the same things that we've had you know just throughout in education there's so many things so many factors so many moving pieces right there's some things that we can account for as best we as we can and we we're responsible for everything even the things that are not even up to us right however when you have such a clear plan you know and you have the engagement and you even talked about Community Partners.

That you're already like everything was in there like you know you're looking Beyond as to who else is there to support this this this work that takes a whole Community right so I I I just commend both of you there were so many you know we were we were sitting in that meeting and and looking into into some of the plans and and how extensive you know they are but very clear you know about serving our students the best way that we can and so I just want to shout youall out and I also you know let us know you know how we can continue to support because I do understand that these labels don't take the full account of all that goes on in the school building in a school Community with the leadership and also it doesn't really take account the the chronological steps you know that have been taken in the things that are in place right now that will reap benefits you know just if you.

Just wait a little longer so we're going to see those things we're we're going to see all that I'm very hopeful just very proud and thank you again for coming here tonight miss berer so thank you all for this presentation thank you for digging deep thank you for your leadership for our beautiful School communities for our beautiful brilliant children and our beautiful brilliant dedicated Educators and and classified staff it is heartbreaking to this board that the state has chosen over and over and over again year after year to stigmatize schools that need support and so I want you to know that I am so thankful for your leadership I want you to and your and your folks to know we love you and appreciate the leadership every day 100% y'all are doing glorious work we several of us were on a a great webinar with the other Dr patina Dr patina love today who really reminded us that this is transformational Justice work that you are doing that systems in this country.

Are so broken so I would love to hear you if you don't mind since we have you here tell us about your amazing schools and ways that you are breaking new ground new systems innovating things that you love about your school just a paragraph or two about your school and how great it is so that folks can hear and celebrate with you well I'll be since I'm the closest to the mic so Bethesda Elementary School many of you have come last year I saw your faces when the mayor was there great things that are happening at Bethesda the diverse the diversity of students the diversity of Staff of course our our our kid kids are coming in smiling giving hugs I mean I'm 63 and they're at my knees and they're giving me hugs so it's a a family atmosphere for for one safety we are a a safe school I am the type of principal that you'll see me 20,000 times a day because I have to be handson so the level of.

Professionalism and teacher capacity you know it was really tough when I first came in and and and couldn't find those teachers however I'm I stand before you and say we are fully stabbed so so we have grown Leaps and Bounds our theme this year is watch us grow and so as we walk down the hallways and teachers know what growth means they know that the students are growing they're growing professionally I described it the other day as a rubber band so as the rubber band stretch we have to continue to make sure that it doesn't come back together but that it continues to stretch because we have to grow one of the greatest gifts this was one of my thankful Thursdays one of the greatest gifts is to give the kids the quality and the ability to read you change lives when I look at my students I see myself because I am a product of them thank.

You I would like to Echo my colleague here is that I'm new to Y Smith and it's been an amazing journey thus far we are a small But Mighty community and one of thing that I love about the students and the staff is that everybody is thirsty and eager for Learning and change and so our theme this year is Project impact and so we know that everything that we do is driven towards the impact of student achievement and so the parents have come on board they're coming into the building every day you would think I've been there for like 10 years because just like my colleague just said when I walk walk in the students are running to me giving me hugs it's like I've been there for 10 years and so I'm just continuously to build upon that community of love and I'm constantly challenging them I'm challenging my staff to dig deeper into their potential and dig deeper into their skill sets I often tell them that.

A teacher stands between a child and their dreams and so we are dream catchers and our goal is to make sure that our students reach their dreams and reach their full potential and so I'm excited about the work it's challenging but it's exciting because I know that we can do it and so I want to I've been echoing something that I heard at the leadership conference in in June is that we can and we will and so every staff meeting I'm just putting that in there I'm sewing those seeds not only to my students but into my staff members that we can and we.

Will got strong leadership in dur Public Schools thank you all any other comments from board members questions Miss Lewis so I just want to thank you for hear me I want to thank you for this presentation I think that this felt like a walk in the year of academic Excellence this is the blueprint that any other District needs to look at the way that you share the mirror your personal experience the mirror from central office to the schools and the collaboration is inspirational I have never gotten this level of detail in a report for what's happening in the academics we always get the the what so we the Strategic plan and we get the updates from the Strategic plan in regards to what's in process and what's what's taking place and you know what we're still working on but the level of detailing you all talking about the how today and this collaboration has really made it come alive and I thank you and I appreciate all that's gone into the.

Collaborations and ultimately for these children for these students to Excel and reach their fullest potential I again I appreciate appreciate the mirror and the partnership that you shared I think about the Strategic plan and how your school Improvement plan is aligning with that and I remember before there was a strategic plan at DPS to have that guidance to have that now thank you Dr manga for your leadership along with the non-negotiables because even when I look at that I I still got the how but you all brought that to life and how you are using these non-negotiables to build and to working towards Student Success so I definitely feel like this has been a blueprint that that DPS has shared his Playbook tonight I would like just to again offer the encouragement the support whatever the board can do in policy to continue to inspire encourage motivate make life easier for you all to do what you were passionate and called to do so just again we're here for that I.

Appreciate the mental health dayses that have been added we heard you I keep hearing about the leadership conference and the wellness and morale that was done as well so just well done DPS and thank you for this presentation Miss C I'll echo my colleagues and say thank you so much for being here this has been wonderful we love having Dr Stewart but it's really nice to see y'all tonight to get some Like A View From what's happening on the ground right so that's wonderful the plan looks beautiful and we've had a chance to look at some of the individual school plans too and those are even more robust and impressive once you see what the schools have put together so thank you I do have one question I think it might be more for Dr Stewart still there I think she's still there I'm here so I I I really appreciate that the this plan is aligned with the Strategic plan I'm I'm a little bit concerned or have questions about.

Goal 2A in the alignment because in our strategic plan we said that by 2024 DPS would develop measures of fidelity for implementation of the SCS sorry the cell curriculum and and in these plans we're asking schools to measure the extent to which they're implementing with Fidelity I know in like at least one plan it indicated that a school was planning to implement with 80% Fidelity if they don't have measures in place that they're following I'm curious to know how are they each developing their own measures like 80% Fidelity of implementation could look different for each person in this room right if each had to Define it so just curious to know more about how that's how in practice we're aligning that original strategic plan with this school Improvement plan and specifically with that that measure there okay so I'll say thank you for that question and again that measure is at the district level but in order for us to have 100% implementation with Fidelity of those plans at the district.

Level it starts at the individual school and so with that I'm gonna ask both Mr wof as well as Mr Maan to name the actual seal plan curriculum that has been adopted at their school and how they are going to measure the implementation of it at their schools we can start with Mr W off so the Seal program that we have at our school is second step our counselors push in because they're more trained in that area of expertise and so we are following it is a scripted program we are following to the Fidelity we have dis we have divided the grade levels so that the counselor that's more trained for the younger kids are implementing that program for the young kids as well as the olders if I'm answering your question correctly now that program allows a script curriculum so we ensure I monitor our assistant principles monitor on a regular basis to ensure that the teachers are giving the kids exactly what they need through evaluation processes and the observation.

Processes as well which will ensure a 100% of implement ation of fidelity I mean fidelity for the students if I'm answering your question correctly okay all right and at why Smith we are a caption kids heart school and so we have staff members of course that are trained at various levels some have done it for a few years some have are totally new to it and so one of the first thing that I had to do was select teams within my school to get trained so that they would then of course create a team a school School based team that would then later train other team members in our school and so what I had to then do create is kind of a comprehensive plan of what capturing kids heart will look like because I am new and that wasn't a practice that was consistent I did have to reset and kind of rorm everything with that team and so we have checkpoints and Baseline things that we're looking for for example greeting.

Kids at the door and using the checks and different systems so the teachers have been explain what that process looks like each week when I'm getting ready to do my walk through was a part of my announcements to to them is I'm letting them know I'm looking for this even in their daily walkthr they get feedback whether or not I saw opportunities for that and so it's been clearly explained to them what implementation should look like at you know at this point by each quarter and so we're having to build upon that based upon the experiences of our teachers and I just like to say when we go into the buildings conducting our sip review visit we have information we're utilizing those presentations that the principal shared and So like Miss MCN make note of we have that information when we go into the schools it's like you said you're going to do this these are your goals and we're looking for indicators of success indicators of implementation.

And if we walk into a school and you say capture ing kids heart that is your your framework and we do not see evidences of that throughout our visit that is noted and we're providing feedback as well and to your point in terms of developing the districtwide measure that's still a work in progress can I add a little bit so we also have a districtwide professional learning dashboard that shows any District level offerings for seal curricula and you can see attendance by school by individual lots of different ways additionally every school has a professional learning dashboard so any inhouse professional learning that they give they get to see that plus we have the Panorama data dashboard and that seal survey provides yearly metrics that they can compare their in-house data to thank you all that's really helpful to see and to hear again how you're doing this on the ground it sounds like it's a really robust process which is so critical we rely on the social emotional learning for all sorts of things right.

To improve all sorts of outcomes for our students so and not to Bel labor but I have to say we are restored to practice school I am a firm believer that we have to teach replacement behaviors we need our kids in school okay so in order for us to do that that we have to teach kids how to code switch in their communities as well as in school so we are restored to practice school we are trained by central office staff there are trackers all around us and data that we can see and determine monthly whether we are effective or ineffective as relates to our restor to practice as well thank you any other comments Miss Chávez just want to say thank you I agreed This was great just to hear the process and as Miss Lewis said you brought it to life so that was that was really awesome I just I don't think I have any questions but I just wanted to to underscore the point about leadership I'm I'm so proud of.

The leadership that we have in our district and the layers of support that I can see through this process are are just great and and necessary and Dr Stewart I I really appreciate your leadership in this Arena and of course Dr mubenga this is what's going to continue to move us forward and our students I also appreciated the point about the teacher student relationship I think D data has shown that that is the number one Catalyst for student achievement and so and so the the more we can support our Educators and and help them to grow wherever they're they're starting at as you were pointing out is is really important and the last thing I just wanted to say is you know our students are facing all different kinds of challenges that cannot be forgotten that we have have many students who are affected by racism who are affected by the effects of poverty broken immigration system and and other issues as well as IM issues or challenges in their immediate.

Environments and that's not to say all of our students and that's and those are not obstacles that cannot be overcome and so that's what we're really trying to address I appreciate the point you just made about code switching we need to have those conversations with our students to let them know that they are welcome as they are in our schools and we want them to succeed as they are not to turn into somebody else in order to in order to achieve so thank you and I hope you will be able to continue to support your work as the board and and see that growth over time thanks and one last thing is just I wanted to say you know we also put in you know put out there our goals and our wishes and our desires for our young people and and it takes time it doesn't always happen in the time that we want it to which is not to say we're not pushing for it but so that's something that we're.

Aware of as well as a board and that that growth happens because you plant the seed and then you continue to feed it so thank you Miss vorus thank you so much I started with just commenting on your plan right the school Improvement plan and how looking into it I was like wow this is extensive and it has everything everything you've said right now is on that plan absolutely and that is a celebration because there's nothing new right like you I'm looking at like priority two which was the question right and it's provide a safe and healthy school environment that supports the whole child and you you know by 2024 pesda will implement the restorative practices framework and Second Step you mentioned second step in there curriculum with 100% Fidelity so you laid that out that you are 100% Fidelity that is the goal and there's actually like even a Target you know like a like a bullseye you know and then I found and I just wanted to take.

The opportunity to just mention the next one when you talk about attendance and you mentioned that tonight like how important it is and how that ties in because we want our kids in our school buildings we don't want to disenfranchise I mean once we lose a child's trust and their ability to actually even want to come to the building we've lost a fight and I think that that is the Crux of the plans you know there's the plan and it is as extensive and and you get kudos for that and that goal of 2024 Bethesda will have an overall student attendance rate of at least 95% you know with with all the things that are happening mental health you know food insecurity gentrification that is affecting housing for our kids it's it's there's so many challenges but you're not focused on the storms you're you're saying there's an eye in every storm and Bethesda is is is that and the same thing for yi Smith like that's why those plans like I I.

Really really appreciated everything you laid out because everything you've said tonight you laid it out in that plan and so we we're so excited we're definitely very grateful that at the district level we do have restorative practices throughout the district that we want to continue to see that every school has 100% implementation ofal social emotional learning that is implemented and that those are things that we can celebrate because already like our at our district level we've gotten to a point where we started kind of slow with restorative practices we started kind of slow withal over the years and we're at a point where it's like you know you know implementation right and so I just wanted to just again go back to that plan School Improvement plan year two let's go and what is hold on it's hold on you said it's ready set and grow that's right yes thank you all right there comments or questions I have a just one question but thank y'all again so much for this.

And we know that Equity is one of the pillars of everything that we do y'all didn't say this explicitly but I already know you're disaggregating your data when you're looking at and looking at subgroups so I just want to know if you had any imple things that you're implementing that you could highlight around equity and supporting subgroups of. Students well I I will talk about some work that we have been doing together in their plc's they have been doing some lesson deep Dives and one of the questions they ask is how will these activities support those furthest from Justice so they they look at the lesson they completely list every skill that is needed to for Mastery in that task and then they create scaffolds of lessons where a student at any level has access to the full Mastery of the standard and that's what will that's what will move us right is allowing every student to have that complete access to high quality educ one of the major benefits at Bethesda is.

Our diverse staff so because our staff come from all over the globe our children come from all over the globe at when we come to plc's to do the work that Lori has mentioned the conversations and the ideas that come together and that are laid out in structured lesson planning or differentiate instruction it's it's a little easier because you have the lens of someone who may be from Chile and the child is from Chile or someone who may be from a loow income environment because I'm at the table as well so when we think in terms of equity and making sure that each kid is getting what they need we utilize the differentiation time in our schedule as well but it starts with the conversation because everybody May learn differently and we respect that as we continue this Mission and just to Echo some of the things that we're also doing is within our PLC we're structuring it where we're really targeting and looking at what what do children need thinking about.

That Bloom's taxonomy and really pulling out what is the action that the student has to be able to do do right and kind of laying out that ground workor and so every PC we're going through and we're honing in on each and every subgroup we're talking about what what are our El students doing and having those crucial conversations and teachers being able to talk about their strengths and their weaknesses and then we we provide those Flex groups Flex grouping for different subgroups from a I guess Beyond Beyond instruction some of the other things that we're doing even down to our schedule when we looked at our data we saw that our fifth graders were struggling because they were missing instruction because we had an attendance issu so we had to kind of move some things in our schedule so that if in fact they did come to school late don't worry you still in time for ELA you gonna get this lesson and so just kind of focusing on those different things to.

Make sure that regardless of their background regardless of where they are that we're doing things in supports of that some of the things I'm getting ready to move forward into this month is having targeted parent groups with my ESL families a lot of them want to support they want to be involved and they just don't know how and so I want to have some parent sessions just to figure out what do they need for me also just so they can learn me and then I can help them understand ways that they can plug into the school as well those were excellent examples I just appreciate this so much it's really insightful to get a sense of what is happening in the school and I hope everyone who's watching is writing about what's being said today because it is a continuous improvement process right it's constantly looking your data looking at the information all the multiple sources and figuring out what to do next and so I just was really.

Appreciative to hear what you all shared and the question of what does a student need to move towards Justice is that how you phrased it like that is like w I was like yes that's the work that we do here in D public school so thank y'all so much I don't have any additional questions board members y'all good all right thank you all thank. You the next item on our agenda is Operation Services we have the classified compensation study update we have Dr wasain coming up to the podium good evening chair Umstead superintendent mubenga members of the board we return to you this week with an update on the classified compensation study we want to thank all of our employees who were patiently who were patient through this process and we certainly hope you are excited as you read the details of your letter and so we had a follow-up meeting with heel this week and to get some additional clarification on just a couple of employment categories and are.

Actually the payroll window I think is still open a little bit processing all of those changes for everyone to definitely see it in this paycheck and we have a very very small number of adjustments at this point point in the board materials you will find the class the updated classified and administrator schedules our video has been recorded and is being edited for release by public affairs and I want to extend thanks to not only Mr Cunningham but I also want to thank Ed Garcia Marsha kleene and Tanisha Austin who are in the video helping share valuable information with our employees and it's taken a whole team to turn around approximately 2200 payroll changes in this window but I would like to exp extend special thanks to Sierra oiu who literally joined us four months ago today and to Vicky go I hope they are at home sleep not listening to this now but they have done an outstanding job in working directly with HR to make sure they've had a lot of tireless nights and.

So I'm I'm saying that to say I hope that they're they're catching up on some much needed rest we appreciate their leadership and their commitment we also instituted a compensation study at dpsnc.net email address that has proven to be a good communication tool our employees are using that and we have a number of people who are tapping into that email address to answer questions while I have this forum I would like to address three of the most most common questions that we've received via that portal just to help clarify for our employees I want us to remember that this represents this whole study represents a reclassification and since we elected not to use a letter grade there's a lot of confusion with their prior salary grade it is indeed a reclassification so we want to C encourage everyone look at your bottom line com compensation there's a reset on salary grades I also want employees to remember that we will experience several months of adjustments before they will see a stabilized and predictable payment.

Amount so they will see the increases this month but they will see the retroactive pay in November so I want to remind them about that also review everything carefully if you think adjustments need to be made all of those inquiries need to be received by March the 15 and finally for administrators on the coordinator scales and above please remember we did not adopt the heel recommendations for those groups and so what you see reflected on those pay scales are straight across the board 7% and so if there are questions regarding the scales or any other pieces of the compensation study we're glad to answer those at this time thank you dring for providing an update board members questions start thisp DR lay thank you so much I would love to thank Sierra and Vicky see if we can get them a spark pin this is a tremendous amount of work and Analysis folks that didn't get letters what should they do should they email this email address that you gave out no the.

Letters are still some of what we had to meet with heel with we've made those adjustments and spreadsheets and so those are forthcoming and they should be receiving them within the next 10 hours okay are those set are those specific classifications that you'd like to say that is forthcoming like the the notion of certain job cies or specific classifications if you look at hourly staff and then there're also individuals with some adjustments that we had to make with steps so you could have some one offs in those areas steps and salary grades So within 10 hours they'll have it by tomorrow midday they should have it by tomorrow midday and then payday.

Is okay payroll is the 31st but it has to be sent to the bank and it's sent to the bank tomorrow okay and most folks that everybody's been talking to seem happy I've seen General happiness is that yeah but there but these folks that haven't receive their letters are still looking for that letter and they're hitting refresh so okay by 10 to by mid day tomorrow right absolutely we had to address particularly some hourly categories and so that's the problem probably the largest outstanding one and I would like to also say that even in the compens compensation study at dpsnc.net email address for every question we've had we've also had a thank you and so there are lots of emails of just employees saying thank you and then the scales those are posted on the website somewhere people have found them can you say again where they could find they are posted on the website the easiest way for me to tell you is when you go to the DPS website.

You can go a lot of different ways but if in that search bar you put compensation schedule it will come right up and you can click and go directly to them there yeah that search bar is my favorite as well it takes you to magical places so I so much appreciate you reinforcing that for folks and thank you to all the team members that worked so hard on this thank you to the state for finally passing a budget but also for the county for making these raise as possible thank you all any other questions or comments I got some said don't move thank you all again for this update and for providing the scales the scales on the website also have the positions at the bottom which I also just think is helpful for new folks coming in for any people who are trying to figure it out the positions are listed down at the bottom of that salary schedule so thank you for hearing our feedback on that I.

Also just wanted to know I know we have millions of viewers watching our U meeting tonight but for some of those who might not be how will they know you asked about you stated something about people getting no I wrote down my question but I don't remember exactly what you said about folks getting their letters or how they communicate with you if they didn't receive their letter how are we communicating with people who may not be watching the meeting around some of those those notes and so I would like to say that our directors supervisors or whatever have been wonderful about Fielding their staff also and so I've been in contact with a number of supervisors of staff that have helped particularly in areas where folks may not have as much access to email but again the email address is compensation study at DP SN c.net I think if we can get that maybe in Flyers too and I I know that's a little bit of extra work y'all been.

Doing so much but I just really don't want anyone to feel like I don't know what and don't know where to go so and some of those with those supervisors we can put some flyers up and different things to make sure everyone knows here's the email address that you should get communication by midday tomorrow and if you haven't received anything here's where to go to find that information because again I know lots of people are watching us but some may not be so how do we make sure that we get that information to them and and the video which includes additional information will also be posted on Monday okay with payday so will will there be a communication on Monday of like this is what it was it was the communication around the paychecks that's what it was exactly how the next couple paychecks might be a little different based on retroactive pay and all of that how are we communicating that to our staff members that's the question it is specifically all of that.

Is addressed in the letter and then so then it goes back to that same thing of working with supervisors in those areas to get hand hard copies to those that may not have as easy access to email okay I wonder if we I over I lean on overc communicating so as those emails as the videos go up there's another email that goes out reminding people that these next couple paychecks will be different I think as many times as we can say that and also making sure our folks in in Hamlin and bacon Street our transportation all of them have that information I just think it's going to be really helpful we know the holidays are coming up too so people are thinking about where my money is how I can spend what the gifts look like that long the month that seems like it gets extra longer towards the end of the year so how do we overc communicate what people can expect I think will be helpful and I think that's also just a.

Lesson that we continue to learn with the different things that we're doing so I think that just would be helpful over communicating the differences that might come up and we do have those built in because there's several different things from open enrollment and all of that that is going out to staff yes thank you Madame chair I just want to commend Dr Len and Paul lur for working on this for over a year and also I want to say thank you to the hill group they've been really loyal friends anytime we need some work to be done so thank you to our board this has been a process for the last three years our classifying employees they've been asking for this and thank you you've been able to deliver and also thank you to our kindy commissioners and I would like also to say thank you to Michelle Bron da president we s down together we look at the priorities and she knew this was the right time for this then going to be.

Out the time for other things that was really a good partnership I just want to highlight about $186 for our bus drivers and I heard our our neighbors they were able to announce theirs which was probably 1850 so we see the highest when it comes to compensating our bus drivers on top of that when it comes to attendance we paying $150 for coming to work on time and coming to work for all those days so I just really wanted to highlights that for our certified employees we've been working with them throughout all these years we have a new process with the budget that is going to start in December and we Hur them we're expecting the states to pass something with a master spay they did not that's something in our radar so please do not leave US stick around that's something that we are going to work and I'm planning to bring this to our board for next year so we are really excited where we are and we're going.

To stay competitive and anytime there are needs out there we want to listen to our employees and make sure that we're bringing this to our board thank you board for your support thank you Dr MinGa thank you drin it makes me think about what is the cycle that we need to be doing classified studies on so we don't get to a point we're like oh no here it is again it's time five years I hear Dr Lin saying okay so we need to make sure we're doing that to regularly make sure that we are paying our folks what they deserve right I think that's really important thanks again to our County Commissioners for the local funding to make this possible as well any other comments board members all right thank you oh sorry Miss Vadar I also just want to thank your department for you know just just listening to the advocacy listening to the needs of of the DPS community and there are so many faces right that have kind of come up.

And talked about you know why this is so important and I also know that in terms of how you're explaining like that you know the the the steps are are look going to look a little different but they're not a demotion in any way it's just that we're trying to figure out how to equilibrate our systems like so that we have exactly like the steps that we need it's it's it's it's something so important because I know that some of our staff in talking to them when they come from other places they sometimes compare in Virginia for example that's an example that I know where somebody's a step like way steps above right and then they're here and they're like and when I got here I've heard these testimonies and it's it's heartbreaking and and they feel like my work is not being valued here because in Virginia I was this step so I know that this is a lot of there's so many pieces to it and I also just.

Want to thank the folks The Advocates you know sunny haraldo and instructional assistants and so many people who stepped up and went to the County Commission as well and met with folks so there there's so many names I mean we named a couple of them and I know that there are so many people that you've been engaging with and your department has done that also including that meeting that you all did as well to kind of explain you know what was happening so just Kudos we're celebrating that we're doing this and I think that we're all the better for how we treat our staff and we look forward to the impact this will have on our recruitment yes and our retention so this is a great move for both Recruitment and Retention so we thank you for your advocacy thank you board members the next item is.

Closed session so I'll take a motion move that we go to close session for the reason stated on the agenda second it's been moved by Miss buer seconded by Miss Rogers any other discussion all those in favor say I I I any opposed please use the same sign it passes unanimously we're now excuse me it passes six one exstension we we are now in closed.

Session.

We are now back in Open Session Dr mbinga Madame chair I'm here to seek your approval for the Personnel report as discussed in the close session move approval of the Personnel report dated October 26 203 is move from Miss buyer seconded by Miss Rogers is there any other discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed please use the same sign it passes unanimously and with that we are adjourned good evening everyone.